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Nature of the Perfect Men and Women, by Mahendra Mathur

Introduction
Only the person who is utterly detached and utterly dedicated, Mahatma Gandhi said, is free to enjoy life. Asked to sum up his life ‘in twenty-five words or less,” he replied, “I can do it in three! And quoted the Isha Upanishad: “Renounce and enjoy.” The person who is compulsively attached to the results of action cannot really enjoy what he does; he gets downcast when things do not work out and clings more desperately when they do.

When Arjun asks “What are the characteristics of those who have gone beyond the gunas” in Verse 21 of the Chapter IV, we expect a list of virtues. Instead Krishna delivers a surprise: Established within themselves, they are equal in pleasure and pain, praise and blame, kindness and unkindness. Clay, a rock, and gold are the same to them. Alike in honour and dishonour, alike to friend and foe, they have given up every selfish pursuit. Such are those who have gone beyond the gunas.  IV 24 & 25

Hallmarks of a Man of Perfection
We then have to resort to Sankara’s Vivekachoodamani to understand the matchless joy experienced by a man ‘who has gone beyond gunas’. He will not have the anxiety of an ordinary mortal to acquire the necessary things of life. He will accept and use whatever he gets. A child is not at all aware of itself or its hunger or it is aware of the mother feeding it. A man of realization is much the same. Sankara indicates that the perceived world for the man of perfection is like the world seen in a dream. Such a rare one sits ever merged in the Self, extremely relaxed and completely happy established in his divine Self.

Such a one is ever changeless and free from all ego-prompted selfish activities. He strives to serve all, at all times, without any trace of selfishness. He is absorbed in Awareness and is without any urge or passion. He has no “I-ness” and “my-ness”. The body just follows him like a shadow. No one can have ego-centric identification with his own shadow. The persecutions of your shadow have no effect upon you.

His experience of the Bliss and peace within is unbroken because his mind has been transcended and, therefore, the sorrows created by the mind are not there. In that condition, the world is exactly like things forgotten and forgotten things can not disturb him. He understands the trick of the mind which gives him hallucinations, so glorious in their beauty and ugliness. His equanimity cannot be broken by any happenings around. Established in Brahman he lives in a state of continuous experience of joy. Unruffled, the man of Perfection watches the passing parade of the world.
The realized person has got out of the circle of ignorance and into a “circle of happiness.” If the question arises “What do I want?” the answer comes “I want only reality, the Self.” Then it is immediately understood that I already am that reality. In that understanding there is happiness and fulfillment. Consequently, there is no need, and no room, for any other desire.
His thoughts are without any worry. He is never persecuted by uncontrollable agitations and sorrows. He refuses to think of failures and regrets of the past; even a street dog will not eat his own disgorging. He does not worry about the future and is totally indifferent to the cares of the present. Having rid of the ideas “I” and “mine’ he lives indifferent to tragedies and comedies that visit the flesh and its mind and intellect.

Nothing is ever there which is not Brahman. Thought is the father of all your sorrows, joys and sufferings. All of them have sprung from the non-apprehensions. One who apprehends Reality ends all apprehensions. Threats, punishments, persecutions, censures and worships, commendations, adorations and praises — they all merge into his bosom and disappear. Infinite consciousness alone remains.

A realized man never courts the objects of pleasure. However, when they are thrust upon him by others, they enter and merge into him. They do not add even an iota of happiness, nor do they cause him the least sorrow. Thousands of rivers bring millions and millions if gallons of water to the ocean, day in and day out. Yet the ocean does not rise even a centimeter.

For one who has experienced the Reality, there is no samsar. Samsar is the phenomenon of going and coming of repeated births and deaths. Extrovertness is the sign of ‘ignorance’. On Realization the vasanas become like roasted seeds. Roasted seeds look like seeds, but they will not sprout even under extremely favourable conditions.
He has completely relinquished all varieties of sense gratification, which arise from mental concoction. He is contented in the Self, and by the Self.  He thus remains undisturbed even amidst the so called “filth” or “impurities” of the material world. His mind is purified and enjoys the Pure Transcendental Consciousness. The mind of such fortunate person is perfectly in link with his God within.
A sadhak trying to lead a noble way of life should always mentally have the presence of his ideal or his Teacher before him so that his baser tendencies get weaker and he is always inspired to live the ideal way of life.

Thus, a Self-realized person — the knower of God — is ever unattached, free of sorrows, impartial, possesses patience and purified nature. He is enlightened, free of pride, most humble, kind, full of humility, full of spiritual bliss and peace. He acts in goodness, free from all worldly entanglements. He eats the food of Divine Knowledge, he depends only on One God and His Name, he ever remains absorbed in God’s meditation, he never suffers any doom, his mind is annihilated, he helps save other souls, his family is God, he is always awake, he is free of haughty intellect, he is free living liberated, he is worry-free and his doctrine is pure. In truth, he himself is the exalted and Formless God in human body and everything abides in his mind. He is priceless, he is the patron of the patronless, he owns the entire universe, and he is the highest of high.

A fool can not be identified as long as he does not speak. As soon as he opens his mouth, he reveals himself. Similarly, one of the most important qualities of a man in God Consciousness is his speech — the way he expresses his mind. The immediate symptom of God Conscious man is that he speaks only of God and matters related to Spirituality. This is the sum and substance of his expression or speech. To him, the speech of the Divine Name is the sweetest thing in the world. “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform — do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.”–Bhagavad-gita 9.27
The practical application of this instruction is absolutely ecstatic.  Anyone who applies these teachings at every minute will feel how they are always living in the direct association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Conclusion
Of all the sciences the self-realization science is the most important. There should be a self-realization department in every university throughout the world.

After realization, you find that you don’t mind how things go, whether you do one thing or some other thing. Why do you feel such indifference? Because you know that all that activity doesn’t really have anything to do with you. It is all happening according to the prarabdha karma, that is, according to those tendencies which have already been set in motion and which must come to fruition through the body and mind. This karma is like the arrow which has already been released from the bow. It cannot be stopped or turned back in its flight. That is your external life after realization. There is nothing for you to do. Similarly, when you know everyone is yourself, you don’t crave the company of particular people. You get on perfectly well with anyone and you are inclined to treat everyone with the same respect.

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